Virginia Women Win By 3

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Virginia's women were chased by a Big Green monster Thursday, and they just barely got away from it.

The third-seeded Cavaliers survived the fright of their lives, edging 14th seed Dartmouth 71-68 in an NCAA Tournament East Regional first-round game at University Hall.

The Big Green's Sally Annis hit a 3-pointer - Dartmouth's ninth of the game - with 2.7 seconds left for the final score. The Cavaliers dribbled out those last two seconds and breathed a sigh of relief. Poor, little Ivy League champ Dartmouth, which most people assumed would be crushed on the Cavs' home floor, had come close to pulling off what would have been an all-time NCAA upset.

After the yawn-a-thon that proceeded them, it wasn't surprising that the Cavaliers (25-4) looked a tad drowsy themselves to start out.

Sixth-seeded Florida all but ran No 11 seed Radford out of the building, winning the first game 89-49.

The nightcap was almost a nightmare for Virginia. In fact, it looked a lot like the last time the Cavs played. They were being frustrated by a team that used a scrappy defense and was hitting seemingly all its shots.

That's what happened in their ACC Tournament semifinal loss to Duke on March 4. Who could forget? Well, the Cavaliers say they have. Sort of.

``Tonight was very similar, but this time we survived. So we learned from that game.''

U.Va. struggled offensively against the Big Green (16-11) early in the first half, but built a 44-31 halftime lead behind Palmer's 17 first-half points.

But with strong outside shooting, Dartmouth rallied in the second half.

``We worked the ball well, set a lot of screens,'' Dartmouth coach Chris Wielgus said. ``It's something we've had to do the entire year. We're a patient team.''

Virginia, on the other hand, seemed tense and uncertain - despite the fact that the Cavs haven't lost in U-Hall in more than three years. Ryan was perplexed.

``We were either thinking too much or not thinking enough,'' she said.

When Laurie Stucker's jumper tied it at 51 with 13:23 left, U.Va. began to look a little panicked. And when Brandi Jones' trey at 9:14 gave Dartmouth a 54-53 lead, fear was definitely in the air.

But Palmer hit two clutch shots to calm down the Cavs - a baseline 6-footer at 8:57 followed 40 seconds later by a 3-pointer that got a blessing from the rim.

U.Va. never trailed again, but it did plenty of sweating.

Gausepohl's basket at 1:18, making it 71-65, turned out to be U.Va.'s last points. The Cavs' Tora Suber missed the front end of one-and-one chances twice in the last 45 seconds, but the Big Green couldn't quite close the gap.

Jones had 20 points to lead Dartmouth, which shot 50 percent from long range.

``A lot of us have toiled in obscurity for a long time,'' Wielgus said. ``Given the opportunity, we certainly think we can play with anyone.''

The Cavs wouldn't disagree. Palmer had 26 points and 17 rebounds to lead U.Va., which faces Florida Saturday night at 7:30 at U-Hall.

Ryan admitted she was more than a little worried during Thursday's game.

``I was very concerned,'' she said. ``But I've decided I'm not going to be disappointed because I know this team has the ability to come out tomorrow and be a completely different team.